


You Light Me Up (Like a Molotov Cocktail)

by mybrainproblems



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Activism, M/M, Police Brutality, Protests, Punk Rock, anarcho-punk ereris, the least cute meet-cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-02
Updated: 2016-04-02
Packaged: 2018-05-30 20:22:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6438883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mybrainproblems/pseuds/mybrainproblems
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Levi and Eren keep running into each other at punk shows, protests and even once, a jail cell.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Light Me Up (Like a Molotov Cocktail)

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly, I don't expect anyone else to enjoy this. It's not edited enough and is probably the most self-indulgent thing I've ever written. I love anarcho-punk activist ereris because what else would they be in a modern AU? :')
> 
> I'm just going to put it out there that if Massive Attack's [False Flags](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DilYs7scIgU) isn't an ereri song then I don't know what is.

1.

The bandages had started because they were legitimately concerned about being recognized by other people until it finally dawned on them that if someone recognized them, they weren't going to want to be recognized either. They still kept the bandages though; at this point it was just an aesthetic that their fans were familiar with.

Hanji and Moblit were loading up the cars with their equipment and Mike had gone to let Erwin know that they were ready to leave, organizing meeting be damned. After all, it was past midnight and on the other side of their alarm clocks were day jobs with regular hours. Levi shivered as he felt his sweat evaporating in the cool air, leaning against the brick of the alley walls and letting out a long sigh; tomorrow – or rather, today – began his early shift week. Suddenly there was a commotion at the other end of the alley, the metal door he had exited through ten minutes earlier slammed open and a young man was pushed out.

"– get Mikasa and we can leave. Cool off and we'll be back in a few minutes." The door closed heavily and Levi watched the other man's silhouette as he straightened up, nodding in acknowledgement as he turned to face him. The man flexed his hand as though making sure he could still move it. Levi could see a smudge of blood on his knuckles.

"Not the greatest place to pick a fight." Levi observed him coolly even as the other man bristled in anger.

"Well maybe he should have taken 'no' for an answer." He turned to glare at Levi, eyes flashing and a fierce expression on his face.

"That's fair." He paused a moment, looking up at the rooftop. "So what's the other guy look like?"

"Worse."

"Good." They settled into silence for a moment before Levi heard footsteps approaching at the end of the alley; even fifty feet away and in the half-dark there was no mistaking Mike's towering form.

"We're heading out." In the still dark of the alley, Mike's voice was loud and echoing.

"Coming."

Levi pushed off the wall and gave the other man a short nod as he walked towards where Mike was waiting for him. A car drove by, lighting up the alley for a moment and he could see the other man's eyes – bright green and full of fire.

 

2.

It was by sheer luck that Eren managed to dodge out of the way of one officer's grasp and sprint towards a side road, dropping his sign and pulling down the bandana covering his lower face as he went. He was breathing hard when he finally stopped running, looking up and trying to get his bearings, not recognizing the area he had ended up at given his lack of familiarity with this side of the city. The streets were empty and as soon as he was able to start moving again he slowed to a leisurely stroll, not wanting to draw any added attention to himself. He was rounding the corner of the next block to double back to where the protest had been when he literally ran into another person.

"Careful." There was something familiar about the face of the man who was now offering a hand to help pull him up.

"Thanks." Eren took the man's hand and pushed himself to his feet. When he stood up and looked down briefly he remembered who the other man was – or at least where he had seen him before. "You're the guy from the alley at the show last week."

"Huh?" Eren watched as the other man's brow furrowed and then smoothed out, the corner of his mouth quirking up. "And you're the idiot who picked a fight with a guy twice your size because he wouldn't leave Isabel alone."

"He deserved it."

"If me or Farlan had been there he'd be in the hospital." The grin on the other man's face was almost feral and Eren felt something not-unpleasant lurch in his stomach. He didn't hold the grin for long, dropping back into a more neutral and calculating expression. "You were at the protest, yeah?"

"Yeah. I made a run for it when they started breaking it up." A frown pulled at Eren's face and he looked down, scuffing his shoe against the ground. "I can't exactly get arrested right now."

"I mean, I'm here too." The other man gave him a sympathetic smile and started walking, jerking his head to indicate that Eren should follow him. "I'm guessing you were with other people?"

"Yeah, my sister and my best friend. We got split up." Eren's brow furrowed as he looked around. "I'm not really familiar with this side of the city though so I don't really know where to meet up with them."

"You know the obnoxious fountain with the unicorn?"

"The one at Rose Square?"

"Yeah, we’re pretty close. Tell your friends to meet you there."

Eren followed beside the other man, tapping out a text message to Armin and Mikasa letting him know that he was heading towards the fountain and that they should meet there if possible. Once he'd tucked his phone away Eren discreetly watched the man beside him, looking out of the corner of his eye and taking in his neutral expression and short stature. Watching the way he moved and the way his clothes lay on him Eren felt perfectly comfortable hypothesizing that while he was short, he was more than likely very muscular.

As they walked down another more crowded side street they came upon the square and the fountain. Even from where they were Eren could see Mikasa and Armin, both of them standing by a café and scanning the crowd for him. Turning back to the other man, Eren found himself being given a very thorough look of interest before a group of people sitting on the fountain ledge caught his attention.

“Well, those are my people.” He jerked his head over towards the fountain. “I’ll see you around I guess.” The man raised a hand in farewell and strode off towards the group waiting for him.

Eren watched after him even as he walked towards Armin and Mikasa, observing his guarded expression as he walked through the crowd, eventually losing track of him as he passed behind a crowd of people.

 

3.

Enjoyable as the rush of the stage was, Levi found himself very glad that No Name wasn’t performing tonight. Partially because he had barely slept the night before, partially because he was pretty sure he saw some familiar green eyes over by the impromptu bar – really nothing more than a long table with assorted bottles of alcohol on it. He moved closer, shifting positions as he talked with Hanji to slowly edge them along towards the bar until they were almost next to the green-eyed man and his two friends. They were now close enough to catch fragments of their conversation and Levi found himself half eavesdropping even as he and Hanji caught up after having spent most of the previous evening helping Erwin organize the demonstration for the upcoming weekend.

“– Pixis on board?” Levi jerked his attention away from the trio a few feet away from them and back to Hanji.

“Huh?” Hanji raised an eyebrow at him before their gaze flicked over to where his own attention had wandered, trying to stifle a grin. If Levi had a type it was fairly simple: tall. And while the other man wasn’t nearly as tall as Mike, he was definitely within an inch or two of Erwin. After another brief moment they turned back to him and re-stated their question.

“I asked whether you knew if Erwin got Pixis on board? I thought they were supposed to meet yesterday but I haven’t heard anything.”

“Dunno, ask N–”

“Wait, you know Erwin?” Levi started slightly, turning to face whoever had interrupted him and ready to tell them to fuck off. Until he saw who it was.

“Um.” Levi could _feel_ Hanji’s eyeroll.

“Sorry, he has a tendency to speak before he thinks.” A shorter blond-haired man gave his friend an exasperated look before turning back them, his expression apologetic. A dark-haired woman beside them let out a long-suffering sigh and an awkward pause stretched out.

“So. I’m Hanji.” They stuck out their hand towards the blond man. “They/them pronouns, please.”

“Armin.” He gave them both a rueful smile and the dark-haired woman stepped forward.

“Mikasa.” She dragged the green-eyed man forward. “And this is my _brother_.” The final word was pointedly emphasized.

“I’m Eren.” His eyes were so focused and almost confrontational that Levi nearly laughed. Unlike Hanji, he didn’t offer his hand out, nodding at the three of them.

“Levi.”

There was a brief pause before Hanji launched into explaining that yes, they knew _that_ Erwin and continuing on to explain that they had first met him at community organization meeting and then ended up actually becoming friends with him when unbeknownst to them they ended up starting a band with his boyfriend. They went on to talk about some of their early experiences participating in and then slowly coming to organize the community. Levi interjected with details occasionally but largely left things to Hanji who was far better with words than he was, electing instead to watch the green-eyed man – _Eren_ – and his passionate and intense response to everything being said until finally the conversation wound down, Hanji telling them about the upcoming demonstration to raise awareness of the government’s efforts to suppress dissenting reporters. They parted ways after Armin looked at his phone, he and Eren grimacing at the late hour.

 

4.

Given that Hanji and Levi had been involved in organizing the demonstration Eren didn’t expect that he would run into them if he was just on the periphery of it with Mikasa and Armin especially when there ended up being more people than he had anticipated and a _much_ larger police presence than he imagined even Erwin would have anticipated – or at least a much more well-armed one.

Things went fairly smoothly for a while with the police standing aside and giving them space even as their numbers started to grow. Eren wasn’t entirely sure what sparked it off but they had been there for less than an hour when the police began to close in around them. He didn’t notice it at first since he was far enough from the edge of their group that he couldn’t really see more than just glimpses of brown uniforms. It was only when he heard yells and felt the energy of the crowd around him shift from one of organized anger into disorganized panic, some people darting away towards the edges while others pressed closer into the group. The whole crowd was now in motion and he could see the brown jackets of officers within the crowd, batons rising and falling. Eren turned to Mikasa and Armin, ready to grab them in an effort to stay together and found that they were no longer at his side. A cloud of smoke went up further away from where he stood and he found himself backing out of the crowd now, re-tying his bandana over his face more securely and dragging a small blond woman out of the way of an officer’s falling baton and getting caught on the shoulder as she darted away.

When the officer raised his baton again Eren found _himself_ being pulled away, his wrist in someone else’s tight grip – _Levi’s_ grip he realized suddenly – as they ran flat out. As Levi dragged him along he looked back and saw even more clouds of sickly smoke filtering through the chaotic press of bodies as they tried to flee. They darted into the first opening off of the street which ended up being an incredibly narrow alley between two buildings, so narrow that they were forced to jump over piles of trash and finally at the end of the alley, a large dumpster that Eren scrambled over and which Levi vaulted over with shocking ease. They found themselves on a small back street now, the largely residential neighborhood oddly quiet after the panic they had just left behind. Eren pulled his bandana down off his face and watched as Levi pulled down his own as well and turned to face him.

“You okay?” Levi’s expression was concerned as he watched Eren intently. “Inhale any of that shit?” Eren shook his head and Levi’s concern seemed to grow deeper.

“No. No, I didn’t.” He took in a deep breath and let it out. “I’m fine.”

“Good.” There was a pause and Levi shifted his weight from one foot to his other. “Ran into your sister and friend. They said you got separated and I was looking for Nifa anyway so…” He trailed off and shrugged.

“Did you find them?”

“No.” He straightened up and glared past Eren at the alley they had come from. “I saw you about to get brained by a pig and reacted.”

“And Nifa?” This time Levi winced.

“She was trying to get people out and has a gas mask with her. It’s not like she’s helpless but none of us expected shit to go south that quickly.”

“So what happened?”

“No idea yet.” Levi sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I should get back to everyone. Your friends are waiting for you at… the basement?” His brow furrowed. “I’m guessing you know what they mean.”

“Yeah.” He gave Levi an awkward smile. “It was nice seeing you again.” Levi raised an eyebrow and Eren grimaced. “I mean… I’m glad you were there to pull me out. Thanks.”

“No problem.” He nodded and began to walk down the street in the opposite direction that Eren would be.

Eren watched Levi as he walked, mentally facepalming at the fact that he had actually said that it was nice to see Levi again when they had both narrowly missed being teargassed and potentially arrested. It was only after Levi had rounded the corner and was out of sight that Eren let out a low groan of frustration and began to head out to meet up with Armin and Mikasa.

 

5.

While Levi did have to admit that he had missed seeing Eren around he really wished that the first time he’d see him after a month of 50+ hour weeks didn’t involve a jail cell. As it was he found himself sitting in a general holding cell with twenty other people who’d been at the protest against the steadily increasing number and severity of police brutality cases, half of whom he recognized at least vaguely. It was a small comfort that none of his friends – especially Farlan and Isabel – weren’t there as well. Instead he found himself sitting near Eren and his friend Armin and another man who had been introduced as either Marco or Marlowe, the noise of officers yelling at them drowning out the introduction.

Marlowe – he re-introduced himself when things quieted down – had been allowed to leave shortly after being processed, something that had Levi raising his eyebrows and Armin and Eren shrugging in response. Shortly after that the both of them were processed as well, though unlike Marlowe they were returned to the general holding cell with everyone else. Levi was one of the last few people left unprocessed when he heard a small commotion and raised voices coming down the stairs, the officers sitting at the processing desk pausing and looking at the door at the foot of the stairs.

“– already been to the other station. They said everyone was processed and they didn’t have him.” Levi let out a long exhale and felt some of the tension leave his body; he could recognize Erwin’s voice easily.

“And I’m getting my brother and friend.” From the way Eren and Armin perked up he assumed that the woman’s voice following Erwin’s was Mikasa.

The door burst open with Erwin striding forward imperiously, Mikasa beside him with a furious look on her face and Hanji following up and giving the two officers trying to stop them a pitying look.

“Sir, we’ve processed almost everyone and we haven’t had anyone named Levi Ackerman yet so you’ll have to wait. I know you have communication from –”

“I’m Levi.” He hopped up and leaned against the cell bars. “If I show you my ID will you let me the fuck out?”

Another fifteen minutes of arguing and Erwin brandishing papers at everyone passed before Levi was released un-processed along with Eren and Armin, the six of them walking quickly out of the police station as though someone might call them back at any moment. It was only once they were outside and had powerwalked two blocks away that they finally slowed down and stopped at a street corner, a non-descript brown sedan coming up to the curb as Hanji waved at them. No words or smiles were exchanged as they parted, Levi simply giving Eren a tired nod before he got into the car as Eren turned to follow behind Armin and Mikasa, the latter telling them off for being arrested and forcing her to post their bail. Levi’s body relaxed as soon as he was sitting in the car, his breathing evening out and almost drifting off before suddenly jerking fully awake.

“Wait, how the hell did you get me out?” He focused on Erwin, unable to think of anybody else who could have talked the police into releasing him.

“I called in a favor.”

“Who the fuck owes you a favor and works with the police?”

“An old friend, we haven’t spoken in a while.” Erwin grimaced. “His wife wasn’t happy that I was calling so late.”

“Thank you.”

“So…” Hanji turned to face Levi. “How’s Eren?”

 

6.

Eren was just leaving his shift at the coffee shop, mildly disoriented by the time displayed on his phone given that he usually worked opening shifts and not evening ones. He was grabbing a cup of coffee to-go when the front door opened, drawing his attention to the front of the store and nearly causing him to drop his cup and scald himself in surprise. Somehow he had never considered that the caffeine-addicted and caustic customer named Levi who Jean frequently complained about would be the same Levi he had been running into repeatedly for the past few months. Levi was already turned around and heading out the door when Eren sprung into action, putting down his coffee and grabbing his bag before racing out after Levi.

“Wait! Levi!” Eren grinned as he turned around, lips parting slightly in surprise.

“Eren?” His brow furrowed in confusion. “I didn’t know you worked there.”

“Usually I work at the other location across town, also opening shifts and not late ones.” Eren bounced up on the balls of his feet and looked at the to-go cup in Levi’s hand. “Who gets five shots of espresso at 8pm?”

“I work overnights a lot.”

“And when you’re not working overnights?” There was something about the confused expression on Levi’s face that made Eren want to laugh. “I mean, do you want to do something when you aren’t working. That doesn’t involve off-key guitar feedback or getting arrested. Lunch or something, like normal people.”

“Oh.” Levi’s expression smoothed out and then spread into a tiny smile. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

 


End file.
